Coco Austin Defends Her Braids After Social Media Backlash: 'It's Not a Race War'

The 38-year-old model proudly displayed her new braids last week, but not everyone was feeling her hairstyle. "My new braids! I call [them] Da Coco Swoop. I wanted a little change up for the summer," she captioned a video of her new 'do. "I name all the braid styles I do, even hairstyles with no braids. It's a cute thing I do. I have many weird Coco-isms 'do."

Days later, Coco was back on social media defending her summer style. "So, recently I got social media's panties in a bunch because I did braids to my hair. This is so stupid. I can't believe I'm talking about it, and I believe this shouldn't be turned out to be a race thing," she said in a video shared on Instagram. "This is what happened: I did my braids and I called them the Coco Swoop. I name all my styles that I do to myself. These are called the Coco Swoop. The braids before were called the Bo Derek braids. And it's a Coco-ism. I've always done it."

Ice-T's wife further justified her look, insisting that she can name her hairstyles whatever she wants. "Why can't we all rename hairstyles or braids? That sounds so stupid. Why is everybody claiming something they shouldn't? I know braids have been around for thousands of years. Don't you think I know that?" she declared. "If I want to wear a pineapple on my head, then I should be able to wear a pineapple on my head and call it the Pineapple Cocowop. I don't know. You see where I'm going with this? Why is everybody hating?"

She also made reference to Beyonce's braids in the Lemonade visual album. "Beyonce, she does this hairstyle, and now it's the 'Lemonade', but no one's gonna get mad at her, right? So, at the end of the day, this shouldn't be a race war. This should be a 'human thing.' Right? Everybody should be able to do it. It's a 'human thing,'" she exclaimed. "Give that a shot. Not a race war. It has nothing to do with race."

After thanking her supporters, Coco had one final message for her haters: "Get over it."

This isn't the first time Coco has faced off against her critics. In December 2015, just after giving birth to her and Ice-T's daughter, Chanel, she fired back at haters who slammed her parenting methods. "Some assume since you have money and live in a 'celebrity world' that you don't do s**t!" Coco wrote in a series of tweets. "Let me add, I don't have nannies or babysitters. I've been 100% hands on with Chanel. I also clean my own house and do my own laundry #100%wife."